Originally published as: Special issue of The Learning Organization, Volume 14, Issue 1, 2007

Guest editor: Jon Pemberton, Sharon Mavin

ISSN: 0969-6474

ISBN: 978 1 84663 310 2

E-ISBN: 978 1 84663 311 9

It is over 15 years since the publication of the seminal text, Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation by Jean Lave and EtienneWenger, as well as Brown and Duguid’s 1991 influential paper in Organizational Science titled “Organizational learning and communities of practice”. In that time, interest in communities of practice (CoPs) have grown immensely, with many published articles and texts paying homage to the pioneering ideas espoused in these works. Indeed, it is probably fair to say that today, Wenger has now emerged as the acknowledged CoP “guru”, his expertise in demand from organizations and academics alike. His recent single and jointly authored works have formed the backdrop for much of the discussion and reporting of CoPs in the literature, and act as a benchmark against which developments in this arena are assessed.

There is evidence, however, that the conventional view of CoPs, defined usually in terms of their community, domain and practice, may no longer capture what passes for a CoP in today’s organizations. At the very least, an evolutionary change is occurring which may force us to re-examine and re-visit the ideas and notions of CoPs. At this juncture, therefore, it is perhaps timely and appropriate that this special issue seeks to generate further debate and present cutting edge ideas, examples and experiences of CoPs in the eyes of management practitioners and educators.

Contents list

• Guest Editorial
  CoPs: one size fits all?
  Jon Pemberton, Sharon Mavin
• Japan's learning communities in Hewlett-Packard Consulting and Integration: Challenging one-size fits all solutions
  Florian Kohlbacher, Kazuo Mukai
• Consultants: love-hate relationships with communities of practice
  Katja Pastoors
• Managing intentionally created communities of practice for knowledge sourcing across organisational boundaries: Insights on the role of the CoP manager
  Thomas N. Garavan, Ronan Carbery, Eamonn Murphy
• Emergent communities of practice in temporary inter-organisational partnerships
  Rein Juriado, Niklas Gustafsson
• Scratching beneath the surface of communities of (mal)practice
  Jon Pemberton, Sharon Mavin, Brenda Stalker
• Developing communities of innovation by identifying innovation champions
  Elayne Coakes, Peter Smith